


introspection of a forceful kind

by Ford_Ye_Fiji



Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [5]
Category: Babylon 5
Genre: Episode: s02e16 Knives, Gen, IT HATE IT, ITS SO MILD, SO JUST HAVE IT, THIS VERY MILD ACCORDING TO THE PROMPT, THIS WAS REALLY HECKEN HARD TO RIGHT, VERY MILD MIND RAPE, very mild
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-13
Updated: 2018-11-13
Packaged: 2019-08-23 08:08:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16615148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ford_Ye_Fiji/pseuds/Ford_Ye_Fiji
Summary: Wouldn't Kosh have noticed the creature from another universe?





	introspection of a forceful kind

**Author's Note:**

> I hate this one shot with every fiber of my being. This whole thing was published violently and angrily. >:(

Something is deeply _wrong_.

Kosh stands still in the smoky corridor, quiet, patient, observing. The hum of the station is deep and constant, the feeling of over a hundred thousand souls living and dying seeps into the walls making the whole place feel alive.

 _Something_ is wrong.

But he doesn’t know what it is.

A thought occurs.

Kosh reaches outwards, mind stretching thin, ethereal, splitting off to a part of him he'd hidden far away. And then, he knows what is amiss.

The captain's mind was distinctly off. Jagged. _Wounded_. A third presence is there, curled around his memories, reaching deeper inwards, clawing at his unwilling mind with the desperation of dying animal.

It’s killing him.

Kosh should’ve discovered this attack sooner, except it makes sense he didn’t. Kosh has been careful and quiet, nestled in a corner far away, waiting for the hour of dire need and only noticeable in the silence of a song.

This thing, this creature that _does_ _not_ _belong_ \- not here and not in _this_ universe, pushes violently inwards squirming around like a- ' _mouse_ _caught_ _in_ _a_ _rat_ _trap_.' Kosh brushes the human's helpfully supplied metaphor away.

It’s will to survive will end up killing Sheridan, dying pulses and loud wails for something familiar in this alien world to show itself. Some worried feeling that is _not_ Vorlon touches somewhere deep inside him as he watches the alien tear itself through Sheridan's mind, raking translucent claws through memories like a thrashing child, leaving behind open wounds.

This must end.

For a singular moment, Kosh lets himself expand, a flash of blinding white and he reaches out, grasps the creature around the neck, or equivalent, tearing its tendrils away from the Captain, out of his memories. Sheridan cries out, but Kosh ignores him, concentrating.

He cannot kill it.

The shock of killing something inside Sheridan's headspace would destroy him completely. He also cannot move it to another host body, for the cycle of destruction would just continue. Instead he bundles it up tight, the creature's squeals crying for 'home!' And then it’s mercifully silent as he encases it completely.

The Captain stumbles, but he seems to have figured out a solution, purposeful strides carrying him away. 

Kosh holds tight to the condensed ball of writhing instinct, keeping it away from the frayed edges of Sheridan's mind, already reaching out to assist the cries for help in his subconscious.

The feeling that does not belong is still his own and Kosh tucks it neatly away.

He denies the spike of protective anger and irrationally refuses to acknowledge it, even when the creature is disposed of in Sector 14.

Kosh absolutely did not worry about Sheridan.

Even though he ends up expanding his sphere of influence subtly, so that he would be more aware if something tried to latch itself onto his charge's mind.


End file.
